Democratic Labor Party (Australia, 1955)

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Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox political party Template:Labour politics in Australia The Democratic Labor Party (DLP) was an Australian political party. The party came into existence following the 1955 ALP split as the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist), and was renamed the Democratic Labor Party in 1957. In 1962, the Queensland Labor Party, a breakaway party of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party, became the Queensland branch of the DLP.<ref name=gair>Frank Mines. Gair, Canberra City, ACT, Arrow Press (1975); Template:ISBN</ref>

In 1978, a new Democratic Labor Party was founded by members of the original party, which remains active as of 2025.

History

Origins

Template:Main The Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party (ALP) which began in 1954.<ref>Robert Murray. The Split. Australian Labor in the fifties, Melbourne, Victoria, F.W. Cheshire (1970); Template:ISBN</ref> The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H. V. Evatt, and the majority of the Victorian branch, which was dominated by a faction composed largely of ideologically-driven anti-Communist Catholics.<ref>Paul Ormonde. The Movement, Melbourne, Victoria, Thomas Nelson (1972); Template:ISBN</ref> Many ALP members during the Cold War period, most but not all of them Catholics, became alarmed at what they saw as the growing power of the Communist Party of Australia within the country's trade unions. These members formed units within the unions, called Industrial Groups, to combat this alleged infiltration.<ref>Bruce Duncan. Crusade or Conspiracy? Catholics and the Anti-Communist Struggle in Australia (2001), University of New South Wales Press; Template:ISBN</ref>

The intellectual leader of the Victorian Catholic wing of the ALP was B. A. Santamaria,<ref>Ross Fitzgerald. The Pope's Battalions. Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor Split, (University of Queensland Press, 2003)</ref> a Roman Catholic Italian-Australian Melbourne lawyer and lay anti-Communist activist, who acquired the patronage of Dr Mannix.<ref>Niall Brennan. Dr Mannix, (Rigby, 1964)</ref> Santamaria headed The Catholic Social Studies Movement (often known as The Movement),<ref>B. A. Santamaria. The Price of Freedom. The Movement - After Ten Years, Melbourne, Victoria, Campion Press (1964).</ref> modeled on Catholic Action groups in Europe<ref name="ormonde">Paul Ormonde. "The Movement - Politics by Remote Control" in Paul Ormonde (ed.) Santamaria. The Politics of Fear, Richmond, Victoria, Spectrum Publications (2000); Template:ISBN</ref> and, ironically, in organizational terms, on some of the methods employed by its principal target, the Communist Party of Australia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That group later became the National Civic Council (NCC).<ref>Gerard Henderson. Mr Santamaria and the Bishops, Sydney, NSW, Studies in the Christian Movement (1982); Template:ISBN</ref> Evatt denounced the "Movement" and the Industrial Groups in 1954, alleging they were disloyal and trying to deflect the Labour Movement from pursuing Labor objectives.<ref>P.L. Reynolds. The Democratic Labor Party, Milton, Queensland. Jacaranda Publ. (1974); Template:ISBN, p. 12</ref>

At the 1955 ALP national conference in Hobart, Santamaria's parliamentary supporters in the federal and Victorian parliaments were expelled from the ALP. A total of seven Victorian federal MPs and 18 state MPs were expelled. The federal MPs were: Tom Andrews, Bill Bourke, Bill Bryson, Jack Cremean, Bob Joshua, Stan Keon and Jack Mullens.Template:Citation needed In New South Wales, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Norman Cardinal Gilroy, the first native-born Australian Roman Catholic prelate, opposed the Movement's tactics, and there was no party split in that state.

The expelled ALP members formed the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist) under the influence of B. A. Santamaria.<ref>Paul Strangio and Brian Costar (2005), "B. A. Santamaria: Religion as Politics", in Brian Costar, Peter Love and Paul Strangio (eds.), The Great Labor Schism. A Retrospective, Scribe Publications, Melbourne.</ref> Ideologically, the ALP (Anti-Communist) followed universalism and kept the NCC anti-communist position. The DLP started opposing the White Australia policy as early as 1957<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>[1]</ref> even while both major parties supported it.

1950s to 1970s

1955 elections

On the night of 19 April 1955, Liberal and Country Party leader Henry Bolte moved a motion of no-confidence against John Cain's Labor government in the Victorian Legislative Assembly. After twelve hours of debate on the motion, in the early hours of 20 April, 11 of the expelled Labor members crossed the floor to support Bolte's motion.<ref>Bob Corcoran. "The Manifold Causes of the Labor Split", in Peter Love and Paul Strangio (eds.), Arguing the Cold War, Carlton North, Victoria, Red Rag Publications (2001); Template:ISBN</ref> With his government defeated, Cain sought and received a dissolution of parliament later that day, with the election set down for 28 May 1955.<ref name=noconf>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Ainsley Symons (2012), 'Democratic Labor Party members in the Victorian Parliament of 1955-1958,' in Recorder (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch) No. 275, November, Pages 4-5.</ref>

At the election, 11 of the 12 expelled MPs in the Victorian Legislative Assembly, as well as other candidates, and the one MP facing re-election in the Victorian Legislative Council lost their seats. The party drew 12.6% of the vote, mainly from the ALP, which was directed to the non-Labor parties. Labor won 37.6% of the vote and 20 seats to the Liberals' 34 and the Country Party's ten. The Cain Labor Government lost government at the 1955 election. Only one of the expelled Labor members, Frank Scully, was re-elected for the seat of Richmond.Template:Citation needed Scully had been a Minister in the Cain Government and a member of the Movement, and was expelled from the ministry and the ALP as part of the 1955 split.<ref name="DLP">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Ainsley Symons (2012), 'Democratic Labor Party members in the Victorian Parliament of 1955–1958,' in Recorder (Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Melbourne Branch) No. 275, November, Pages 4–5.</ref> Five other MPs whose terms had not expired remained in the Legislative Council until the expiry of their terms at the 1958 Victorian election, and all who recontested their seats were defeated.

At the 1955 federal election held in December, all the 7 expelled federal MPs were defeated. However, Frank McManus was elected as a senator for Victoria at the 1955 election, and successful ALP candidate George Cole had chosen before the election to become part of this party.

Membership

The parliamentary membership of the ALP (Anti-Communist) was almost entirely Roman Catholic of Irish descent.<ref>Lyle Allan (1988), "Irish Ethnicity and the Democratic Labor Party", Politics, Vol. 23 No. 2, Pages 28-34.</ref><ref>Joe Sampson. The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and Bob Santamaria; a talk given at the Melbourne Unitarian Church on 8 July 2014. http://atheism.quantechsolutions.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Democratic-Labour-Party-DLP-and-Bob-Santamaria2.pdf</ref> The only two non-Catholics were its federal leader, Bob Joshua, who represented Ballarat in the Australian House of Representatives, and Jack Little, who led the party in the Victoria Legislative Council between 1955 and 1958. It has been suggested that the party was substantially a party of Irish-ethnics, a result of the ALP split of 1955 being a 'de-ethnicisation', a forcible removal of the Irish-Catholic element within the ALP.<ref>Ernest Healy (1993), 'Ethnic ALP Branches - The Balkanisation of Labor,' in People and Place Vol.1, No.4, Page 38.</ref> However, many ALP (Anti-Communist) members were not of Irish descent. The party attracted many voters among migrants from Catholic countries in southern Europe, and among anti-Communist Eastern European refugees.

A significant Template:Clarify minority of its voters were also non-Catholics.<ref>Gavan Duffy. Demons and Democrats. 1950s Labor at the Crossroads, Freedom Publishing (2002), p. 54.</ref> Journalist Don Whitington argued in 1964 that the DLP, as a basically sectarian party, was a most dangerous and distasteful force in Australian politics.<ref name="whitington">Don Whitington. The Rulers. Fifteen Years of the Liberals, Lansdowne Press, Melbourne (1964), pp. 145-146. </ref> Whitington observed that the party was backed by influential sections of the Roman Catholic Church, and that although the party professed to exist primarily to combat communism, it had less commendable reasons behind its coming into being.<ref name="whitington"/> Daniel Mannix, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, was a DLP supporter, as were other influential clerics.Template:Citation needed

Democratic Labor Party

In 1957, the ALP (A-C) changed its name to the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), although the exact date of the party's renaming is unclear.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At least one source claims it was renamed in 1956,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but this appears to have been the founding of a DLP in New South Wales (where an ALP split had largely been avoided).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The NSW DLP was separate to the ALP (A-C), and NSW DLP president Alan Manning said it was not connected "in anyway" to the Victorian-based party, saying "if B. A. Santamaria joined the Democratic Labor Party I would get out of it".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Tasmanian branch of the ALP (A-C) chose to affiliate with the NSW DLP in February 1957, and Tribune reported that Manning was "trying to link the anti-Communist Labor Parties and the DLP into a national party".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beginning in May 1957, the DLP name began to be used outside of NSW.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 27 August 1957, Tasmanian senator George Cole officially informed the Senate that the ALP (A-C) has been renamed to the DLP following a conference held on 18 August 1957.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the same year, the Labor Party split in Queensland following the expulsion of Vince Gair, a conservative Catholic, from the party. He and his followers formed the Queensland Labor Party, which, in 1962, became the Queensland branch of the DLP.<ref name=gair/>

Between 1955 and 1974 the DLP was able to command a significant vote, particularly in Victoria and Queensland, with their large numbers of Catholics. During the period the party held between one and five seats in the Senate (which is elected by proportional representation). The DLP Senate leaders were George Cole (from Tasmania; 1955–1965),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Vince Gair (from Queensland; 1965–1973),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Frank McManus (from Victoria; 1973–1974).<ref>Frank McManus. The Tumult and the Shouting, Adelaide, South Australia, Rigby (1977); Template:ISBN</ref> Other DLP Senators were Condon Byrne (from Queensland), Jack Kane<ref>Jack Kane. Exploding the Myths. The Political Memoirs of Jack Kane, North Ryde, NSW, Angus and Robertson (1989); Template:ISBN</ref> (from New South Wales), and Jack Little, a Protestant (from Victoria).

No DLP Senators or state politicians were ever elected in South Australia or Western Australia. Owing largely to demographic reasons, the ALP did not split in these states, although some lay branch members switched to the new party once it had been established. As the ALP and the conservative parties traditionally held approximately equal numbers of seats in the Senate, the DLP was able to use the balance of power in the Senate to extract concessions from Liberal governments, particularly larger government grants to Catholic schools, greater spending on defence, and non-recognition of the People's Republic of China.Template:Citation needed

During this period the DLP exercised influence by directing its preferences to Liberal candidates in federal and state elections (see Australian electoral system), thus helping to keep the ALP out of office at the federal level and in Victoria. The DLP vote for the House of Representatives gradually declined during the 1960s, but remained strong enough for the Liberals to continue to need DLP preferences to win close elections.

After Evatt's retirement in 1960, his successor Arthur Calwell, a Catholic, tried to bring about a reconciliation between the ALP and the DLP. Negotiations were conducted through intermediaries, and in 1965 a deal was almost done. Three out of four of the ALP's parliamentary leaders agreed to a deal. However, Calwell refused to share power within the party with the DLP leadership on a membership number basis, so the deal failed. Santamaria later claimed that had he accepted, Calwell could have become prime minister.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Indeed, at the 1961 federal election Labor came up just two seats short of toppling the Coalition. One of those seats was Bruce, in the DLP's heartland of Melbourne. DLP preferences allowed Liberal Billy Snedden to win a paper-thin victory. Although the Coalition was only assured of a sixth term in government later in the night with an even narrower win in the Brisbane-area seat of Moreton, any realistic chance of a Labor win ended with the Liberals retaining Bruce. Without Bruce, the best Labor could have done was a hung parliament.

At the 1969 federal election, DLP preferences kept Calwell's successor Gough Whitlam from toppling the Coalition, despite winning an 18-seat swing and a majority of the two-party vote. DLP preferences in four Melbourne-area seats allowed the Liberals to narrowly retain them; had those preferences gone the other way, Labor would have garnered the swing it needed to make Whitlam Prime Minister.<ref>Antony Green, "Analysis of the 2007 elections in Victoria", abc.net.au; accessed 6 June 2018.</ref>

The DLP's policies were traditional Labor policies such as more spending on health, education and pensions, combined with strident opposition to communism, and a greater emphasis on defence spending.<ref>Michael Lyons. 'Defence, the Family and the Battler: The Democratic Labor Party and its Legacy,' Australian Journal of Political Science, September 2008, vol 43-3, pp. 425-442</ref> The DLP strongly supported Australia's participation in the Vietnam War.Template:Citation needed

From the early 1960s onward the DLP became increasingly socially conservative, opposing homosexuality, abortion, pornography and drug use. This stand against "permissiveness" appealed to many conservative voters as well as the party's base among Catholics. Some members of the DLP disagreed with this, believing the party should stay focused on anti-communism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The highest DLP vote was 11.11 per cent, which occurred at the 1970 half-senate election. Whitlam and the ALP won government in the 1972 election, defeating the DLP's strategy of keeping the ALP out of power.Template:Citation needed

Decline

Template:See also In 1973, it was reported that the Country Party and the DLP were considering a merger. In response, Gough Whitlam said he was delighted to see "the old harlot churched".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

By this point, the party's emphasis on Senate results had led to a steady decline in their primary vote for the House of Representatives, and according to Tom King of Australian National University a large amount of the support for the DLP by this point came as a result of protest votes against the two major parties, rather than any definitive ideological base.<ref name=Page103>Template:Cite web</ref> A softening of attitudes towards Communism both in Australia and within the Catholic Church meant that the party increasingly sounded old-fashioned and ideologically adrift, a perception that was not helped by the advanced age of the DLP's parliamentarians.<ref name=Page103/>

In 1974, Whitlam appointed Gair as ambassador to Ireland in a successful bid to split the DLP and remove its influence. The party lost all its Senate seats at the 1974 federal election.Template:Citation needed

In April 1976, the Queensland and South Australian branches of the DLP were dissolved. The party only stood candidates in Victoria at the 1977 federal election, without success. In April 1978 it was reported in The Bulletin that the New South Wales state council would meet in June 1978 to determine the future of the party.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In March 1978, the Victorian branch voted to dissolve.<ref name="APH">Template:Cite web</ref> The vote to dissolve was carried by 110 votes to 100.<ref>"The DLP bows out", The Age, 1978/03/21</ref> Some members of the party refused to accept the vote and formed a continuity DLP, which they claimed was a continuation of the original DLP. However, that claim was disputed by almost all the officers of the original DLP.<ref name="APH"/>

Electoral results

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2 House of Representatives

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position
1955 227,083 5.17 Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 7 Template:Increase 4th
1958Template:Refn 469,723 9.41 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1961Template:Refn 456,962 8.71 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1963 407,416 7.44 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1966 417,411 7.31 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1969 367,977 6.02 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1972 346,415 5.25 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1974 104,974 1.42 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1975 101,750 1.32 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th
1977 113,271 1.43 Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0 Template:Steady 4th

Template:Col-2 Senate

Election year # of
overall votes 		% of
overall vote 		# of
overall seats won 		# of
overall seats 		+/–
1955 271,067 6.10 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
1958 314,755 6.82 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0
1961 388,466 8.07 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 1
1964 433,511 8.39 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
1967 540,006 9.77 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 2
1970 625,142 11.11 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Increase 1
1974 235,343 3.56 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Decrease 5
1975 191,049 2.67 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0
1977 123,192 1.67 Template:Composition bar Template:Composition bar Template:Steady 0

Template:Col-end Template:Reflist

Leaders

No. Image Name Term start Term end Office
1 Bob Joshua 7 April 1955 10 December 1955 MP for Ballarat
2 George Cole 8 May 1956 23 June 1965 Senator for Tasmania
3 Vince Gair 23 June 1965 10 October 1973 Senator for Queensland
4 Frank McManus 10 October 1973 18 May 1974 Senator for Victoria

Members of parliament

House of Representatives

Senate

Victorian Legislative Assembly

Victorian Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Assembly

Queensland Legislative Assembly

See also

References

Template:Reflist

Further reading

  • Lyle Allan (1988), "Irish Ethnicity and the Democratic Labor Party," Politics, Vol. 23 No.2, Pages 28–34
  • Niall Brennan (1964), Dr Mannix, Adelaide, South Australia, Rigby.
  • Ken Buckley, Barbara Dale and Wayne Reynolds. Doc Evatt, Melbourne, Victoria, Longman Cheshire (1994); Template:ISBN
  • Arthur Calwell. Be Just and Fear Not, Hawthorn, Victoria, Lloyd O'Neil (1972); Template:ISBN
  • Bob Corcoran (2001), "The Manifold Causes of the Labor Split", in Peter Love and Paul Strangio (eds.), Arguing the Cold War, Carlton North, Victoria, Red Rag Publications. Template:ISBN
  • Brian Costar, Peter Love and Paul Strangio (eds.) The Great Labor Schism. A Retrospective, Melbourne, Victoria, Scribe Publications, 2005; Template:ISBN
  • Peter Crockett. Evatt. A Life, South Melbourne, Victoria, Oxford University Press (1993); Template:ISBN
  • Allan Dalziel. Evatt. The Enigma, Melbourne, Victoria, Lansdowne Press (1967).
  • Gavan Duffy. Demons and Democrats. 1950s Labor at the Crossroads, North Melbourne, Victoria, Freedom Publishing (2002); Template:ISBN
  • Gil Duthie. I had 50,000 bosses. Memoirs of a Labor backbencher 1946-1975, Sydney, NSW, Angus and Robertson (1984); Template:ISBN
  • John Faulkner and Stuart Macintyre (eds.) True Believers. The Story of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party, Crows Nest, NSW, Allen and Unwin (2001); Template:ISBN
  • Ross Fitzgerald, Adam James Carr and William J. Dealy. The Pope's Battalions. Santamaria, Catholicism and the Labor Split, St Lucia, Queensland, University of Queensland Press (2003); Template:ISBN
  • Ross Fitzgerald and Stephen Holt. Alan "The Red Fox" Reid. Pressman Par Excellence, Sydney, NSW, University of New South Wales Press; Template:ISBN
  • James Franklin, "Catholic Thought and Catholic Action: Dr Paddy Ryan Msc.," Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society (1996) 17:44-55 online.
  • Colm Kiernan. Calwell. A Personal and Political Biography, West Melbourne, Thomas Nelson (1978); Template:ISBN
  • Michael Lyons (2008), "Defence, the Family and the Battler: The Democratic Labor Party and its Legacy," Australian Journal of Political Science, September, 43-3, Pages 425-442.
  • Frank McManus (1977), The Tumult and the Shouting, Adelaide, South Australia, Rigby. Template:ISBN
  • Patrick Morgan (ed.) B. A. Santamaria. Your Most Obedient Servant. Selected Letters: 1918 - 1996, Carlton, Victoria, Miegunyah Press (2007); Template:ISBN
  • Patrick Morgan (ed.) Running the Show. Selected Documents: 1939-1996, Carlton, Victoria, Miegunyah Press (2008); Template:ISBN
  • Robert Murray (1970), The Split. Australian Labor in the fifties, Melbourne, Victoria, F.W. Cheshire. Template:ISBN
  • Paul Ormonde (1972), The Movement, Melbourne, Victoria, Thomas Nelson. Template:ISBN
  • Paul Ormonde (2000), "The Movement - Politics by Remote Control," in Paul Ormonde (ed.) Santamaria. The Politics of Fear, Richmond, Victoria, Spectrum Publications. Template:ISBN
  • P.L Reynolds (1974), The Democratic Labor Party, Milton, Queensland, Jacaranda. Template:ISBN
  • B. A. Santamaria. Against the Tide, Melbourne, Victoria, Oxford University Press (1981); Template:ISBN
  • Kylie Tennant. Evatt. Politics and Justice, Cremorne, NSW, Angus and Robertson (1970); Template:ISBN
  • Tom Truman. Catholic Action and Politics, London, England, The Merlin Press (1960).
  • Kate White. John Cain and Victorian Labor 1917-1957, Sydney, NSW, Hale and Iremonger (1982); Template:ISBN

Template:Defunct Australian political parties

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